1972 220d brake pad tomfoolery

[turbowrench]

Front pads for ATE brakes are too thick. Way too thick. Like made for a bicycle disk thick. Read posts where people were having similar problems on these older cars but couldn't find a specific answer. Tried Auto Zone, O'reilly, and Knechts; they all have the same too-thick pads.

Replacing the calipers too- went to pick those up today. Parts guy and I placed new "matching" pads off the shelf in the new calipers and same problem. Pads are nearly touching each other.

(To make it more confusing, one box contained an ATE caliper, and the other box had a Bendix, even though the part numbers on the boxes indicated a right/left ATE.)


It would be cool if someone knew the history of the w115/w123 brake weirdness, but really all I need to know to get on the road is if anyone has found a brand or part # of pads for ATE that don't require use of an angle grinder.

[Govert]

The W123 had thicker brake pads after a while, you might have the W123 ones.

[alabbasi]

W114/W115 brakes had a change over at some point. The best way to tell is by the fitting for the brake hoses. Some have fittings that come out from the top, while others have fittings that come out of the center. Depending on what you have, if you switch over, you'll also need longer brake hoses.

[Mike D]

1974

[Pooka]

I ran into this about 20 years ago on some Volvo pads.

I was told that the thickness differed with the caliper and that varied with the market the car was sold in. The pads were from Germany and were made to fit the thickest application.

The correct way to fit them was to sand them down until they fit. So I did.

And they worked great.

I also ran into this on some Porsche 911 pads. Same situation, same solution.